The Open-focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body

"Having read a lot of meditation books, zen books, power of now and attention deficit books, this book is a very interesting perspective on the subject of focus and attention.

First off the book explains what open focus is but it took me a while to grasp it. It wasn't until I read the first exercise that I 'felt' what open focus is about. I feel the book does require a few reads. More importantly, I felt I was very drawn to re-reading it, especially after listening to the cd.

Let me try a technique he uses in open focus. So while you are reading this review, imagine the distance of the screen from your eyes while still reading. Then see the edges of the computer screen yet still managing to read. Notice the spaces between each of the lines of words. Can you feel your shoulders? Can you feel if your arms and fingers are tense? Are your eyes relaxed? Still keep reading yet feel your tightness as you are still reading. Perhaps you can soften that tension and still maintain focus. Perhaps that feels more relaxed and now less urgent?

So one of the ideas is to still function but we don't always need what's known as 'narrow focus' or 'hyper-focus'. This is the focus that uses a high level of energy, tension and focus. We don't always need this type of focus with everything we do. This type of focus is very effective at getting things done, but unless we have a knowledge of 'different types' of focus, we can burn out. We don't always need to use narrow-focus for every task and every conversation. There are lots of other things we could do in open focus, enjoy them more and maybe even do a better job. An obvious one is reading. When I did the exercise he gave while reading I noticed my tension and softened it, especially the tension I was using to hold the book.

There is a cd with the book. The exercises on them are really brilliant. For me, going through the exercises really helps digest the sense of open focus.

One of the main themes of open focus training is to focus on space and spaces. Something like the space between your eyes. On the cd there are 15 second pauses between focuses. So imagine the distance from your eyes to the tip of your nose. pause. Imagine the volume of your lips. pause. The idea is not to say "oh its an inch" but more the greater depth of the space, such as the space between the atoms in the space.

The first of the two long guided sessions is working the head, shoulders and upper back. The second works the whole body. The voice on the cd is very pleasant.

What this book does very well is point out that we are living as if everything is urgent. Yet a lot of the time we aren't aware of it. Our culture rewards this type of focus. We are taught it at school; "stop daydreaming"; "pay attention"; "concentrate". A lot of the time we were paying attention but we look relaxed, or our gaze wasn't looking 'focused' enough.

Theres a lot of scientific biofeedback to back up this open focus training to move the practitioner very quickly into alpha waves using what is know as "imageless imagery".

Les Fehmi has been working with being "a student of how human beings attend both to the world around them and to their internal world of emotions and thoughts" for over 40 years. He's worked with Dallas Cowboys(American Football), the New jersey Nets, and the Olympic Development Committee.

At the time of writing this review there are no other reviews. So to read more reviews use the link in the address bar, delete the .co.uk and replace with .com and that should take you straight to amazon.com and their 20 reviews of this book. "
~ Written on 2008-08-09